Power and how you deal with it, or don’t, is the first link in your music system. Your music is unable to fight its way through debris on your line. So let’s get rid of it!
What’s My Line?
Take a look at this distortion coming from our wall. I’m sorry to say, yours will be about the same. We took two measurements here today. One outlet read 761, the other read MAX (meaning it’s above the 1000 threshold of our measuring meter). Ouch!
To make sense of what is happening, do you remember analog TV? Do you remember the snow in your reception? What Isotek does is get rid of the snow in your power line!
Now that you’ve recognized this pollution in the line, how do you get ride of it? In a word, ISOTEK.
Isotek
Isotek is an English company, specializing in Power Conditioners and Power Cables that they manufacture in Europe. The goal of Isotek is not to just provide surge protection, but to provide IMPROVED SOUND for your hi-fi or AV system.
Polaris V5 $900
Polaris w/initium
Polaris is a six outlet bar that will clean your line fuzz substantially! With 30dB RFI reduction, Polaris not only protects your system from surges, it will actually improve your sound! Here we show you the wall measurement with Polaris.
By the way, Polaris comes with an outstanding AC cable called Initium ($150 a la carte).
More on power cables below.
If $500 is your budget, buy a Polaris and call it a day. You’ll hear the improvement for sure. The improvement is most noticeable in clarity and fine detail. Transient attacks are cleaner. The bass is tighter.
Elektra $2000
If your wallet is a bit thicker and you have proportionate gear to justify it, buy an Elektra. It has six outlets and higher amperage capabilities than Polaris. Elektra measures 000 and provides superior sound because among other things, it has double the RFI reduction.
While Polaris has one filter network, Elektra has six. With Elektra the sonic improvement is even greater. By nature of its price, you’ll run it with higher end gear. The more resolving your system is, the bigger the improvement Elektra will make.
Elektra provides even cleaner transient attack and bass response. If you a hear a stand up bass fiddle with Elektra, you’ll feel the bass player attack the strings. The bass is cleaner/tighter. If you go back to your Home Depot bar or the wall, you’ll be shocked at how murky the attack and transients are in comparison!
Elektra also comes with an Initium power cable. Many companies that sell conditioners do not include power cables at the selling price.
Aquarius V5 $3000
V5 Aquarius
Aquarius 5 is Isotek’s updated 6 outlet bar with 6 separate isolation filters. As good as the prior Aquarius was, V5 is a notch better. As good as Elektra is, Aquarius is a notch better.
Aquarius V5 provides even cleaner transient attack and bass response compared to its little brothers. If you hear a stand up bass fiddle with V5, you’ll feel the bass player attack the strings with his fingers. The bass is cleaner/tighter with noticeably superior transient response. If you go back to your Home Depot bar or the wall, you’ll be shocked at how soft the attack and speed are in comparison. Aquarius allows the musical transients to SNAP out of your speakers. It comes with one Premier cable ($300 a la carte) to go to the wall.
Noise
There are two main sources of noise that muddle up your AC.
Differential Mains noise is debris caused by all electronic appliances connected in your house. That includes TV, microwave, phone chargers, anything that plugs in.
Common mains noise is debris caused by RFI, interference you can’t see. We all have such debris from cell phones, wi-fi and other sources.
Job one is eliminating these sources of noise.
All of the Isotek conditioners deal with both issues, eliminating Differential and Common Mains noise. Most importantly, Isotek does this without squashing the dynamics of your sound.
Separate Isolation
With Isotek power conditioners, no two outlets are wired together (even Polaris) and once you get to Elektra or Aquarius, each outlet has its own dedicated filter network. This eliminates cross contamination of your components’ power supplies and delivers equal power delivery and resistance to each outlet.
The other guys… strap all outlets together. Each outlet will be negatively effected by the other devices that are plugged in… this is even common practice on very expensive models.
Each component’s power supply creates noise, especially on switch mode PSUs. Cross contamination between components masks micro dynamic detail and harmonics. The effect of cross contamination is more deleterious than the noise coming from the wall. This is a serious design flaw that nearly every other manufacturer overlooks. All you need to do is listen.
Simplicity
Isotek uses high quality parts and only as many as are needed. Their circuit designs are beautifully laid out using the shortest signal paths possible and proven engineering principles such as star grounding. Its noise filtration increases dynamic range and doesn’t impede current. That’s why your system will sound more dynamic plugged into an Isotek.
The other guys…stuff their boxes with lots of junction points, low cost/low quality parts and materials and complicated circuit layouts. This often creates more problems than it solves. You get higher impedance and lower current delivery resulting in a flat, boring sound. It also means each outlet will have different current delivery and different resistance. This leads to compromised performance for the components that get plugged in to the “worst” outlet.
VDRs – MOVs
The other guys… use a single large MOV for surge protection. While this can take the initial impact it will still let some of the surge through to your components. It also tends to squash your system’s ability to reproduce macro dynamics because it is too heavy handed.
Isotek uses a more reliable sequential array of specialized VDRs to protect equipment from the over voltage while also improving audio quality.
Power Cables
Some people think power cables don’t make a difference. If you don’t use an Isotek conditioner, they might be right.
Meaning, if you don’t cleanse the debris from your line, the refining abilities of fine power cables are obfuscated. I’m here to tell ya, if you DO run a Polaris, Elektra or Aquarius in your system, you WILL hear the improvement these power cables deliver.
Initium $175
14g power cable with 6N Copper conductors within a poly dielectric. Connectors are made of nickel. Initium will make an upgrade in your sound!
Premier $300
Premier is a 14g cable with silver plated 6N Copper within a Teflon dielectric. Connectors are gold plated. Premier smokes traditional black power cables and YES, you can hear the difference! Premier is the correct cable choice with Aquarius or a higher end Isotek.
In Summary
Your music system will benefit from a terrific source, electronics, cables & speakers. The better your gear, the more information you’ll hear. But if you don’t address THE POWER coming out of your wall, you’re still listening through the “snow.” Cleaning up the power is job one in planning an evocative music system.